


IHOP

by saintnoname



Category: Marvel
Genre: F/M, M/M, Pancakes, Polyfidelity, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-14
Updated: 2013-02-14
Packaged: 2017-11-29 06:39:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/683957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saintnoname/pseuds/saintnoname
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha had never been a big pancake person, but she’d make an exception for her boys.</p>
            </blockquote>





	IHOP

Natasha Romanoff had never been a big pancake person.  A big part of it was the syrup, overly sticky and sweet.  When she did eat pancakes, her preferred topping was strawberry jelly, but even then, she only ate pancakes when it was somebody else’s idea.

This time, it was Steve’s and Bucky’s idea.  They had insisted on pancakes for Valentine’s Day breakfast.

Clint liked pancakes.  Natasha’s boys outnumbered her three to one.

Not that she minded.  Natasha loved her boys.  The four of them had fallen together naturally, and it felt like the easiest thing in the world.  They shared a lot of history, the four of them.  Truth be told, though, it all began with Bucky and Steve.  _Everything_ began with Bucky and Steve.

“So, you two came here a lot back in the day, huh?” Clint asked, nudging Steve’s thigh with his foot.

Any physical affection between the four of them was happening beneath the table as they waited for their food.  Steve sat beside Bucky, a hand on his knee as Bucky’s foot rested easily against Natasha’s.  Clint’s legs stretched across the booth, feet resting next to Steve and brushing the man’s leg.  This was the first Valentine’s Day any of them had spent with more than one person, and the four of them were excited to spend it together.

“Well, we didn’t come _here_ ,” Steve clarified.  “IHOP wasn’t around back then.  There was a diner a few blocks away that we’d walk to every Sunday.”

“Uh huh,” Clint responded.  “And were the two of you a couple back then?”

Bucky smiled fondly, giving Steve’s hand a squeeze.  “We didn’t put a label on it, but yeah, I guess we were.”

They didn’t put a label on it.  Just like the four of them didn’t put a label on what they were now.  Really, how could they?  They couldn’t call themselves a “couple.”  Not when there were four of them.  But they each belonged to each other, and that was what mattered, not trying to stick some label on it.

“Is that why you like pancakes so much?” Natasha inquired, repressing a smile.  “They bring back good memories?”

“Well, we liked pancakes back then,” Bucky answered.  “Otherwise, we wouldn’t have gone every week.”

“But they do bring back good memories,” Steve pitched in.

“They _do_ bring back good memories.”

And, not for the first time, Natasha was amazed by the rapport between them.  It all began with Bucky and Steve, and neither Clint nor Natasha felt left out for it.

The food arrived and the four of them did their best to untangle themselves before they started to eat.

Natasha had never been a big pancake person.  But for her boys, she would make an exception.


End file.
